Thirty years ago that was just a ridiculous lyric in a zany rock opera. Today it's not outside the realm of possibility. Thanks to advances in technology and changes in attitudes, more and more people are overcoming profound disabilities to do amazing things.

The late Jim Wheat Jr., chairman emeritus of Wheat First Securities, continued to the run the company — and go duck hunting — after he went completely blind. And I challenge anyone to keep up with Lt. Gov. John Hager, who completes the Crestar Richmond Marathon each year in his wheelchair.

So why is it that 70 percent of Virginians with profound disabilities are unemployed in a booming economy where more workers are desperately needed?

There are three reasons, says Roy Grizzard, commissioner of Virginia's Department for the Visually Hand-icapped. For one thing, there are economic disincentives in the Social Security system that penalize people with disabilities who hold jobs. Another impediment is a lack of transportation for handicapped people, particularly in rural areas. And the third reason — the reason why I'm writing this column — is lingering attitudes among employers that people with disabilities are more trouble than they're worth: They demand special treatment. They get in the way. They make other employees uncomfortable. They struggle at their jobs, and you don't dare fire them.

But those attitudes are changing, Grizzard says, and there are three state agencies that can help employers hire people with disabilities. In addition to Grizzard's Department for the Visually Handicapped, there's the Department of Rehabilitative Services and the Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Grizzard wants employers of disabled people to know that "you are not out there on your own." The state can provide engineers who will analyze most any situation and find a way to make it work. And in many cases, state funding is available to subsidize workplace adaptations, he says.

"You can't put a price on human dignity," Grizzard says. But there is a bottom line to this effort. Virginia is experiencing its most severe worker shortage since World War II.

That's why Virginia Business is devoting 24 pages of this month's magazine to the Virginia Work Force Development Directory, which begins on Page 23. Now more than ever, employers across the commonwealth are willing to train people who have a strong desire to work.

Not everyone with a profound disability wants to work, Grizzard admits, but there are tens of thousands of Virginians with disabilities who are ready, willing and able to join the work force. No one knows the exact number, but it's large enough to put a big dent in Virginia's labor shortage. And people like Grizzard can help us make it happen.

"To be blunt about it," Grizzard says, this is an unprecedented opportunity to "take tax users and turn them into taxpayers."

That beats pinball in my book.

Karl Rhodes
Executive Editor